McCracken reflects on Miss America Pageant experience
In the photo above, Elissa McCracken is all smiles as she walks across the stage during the 2013 Miss America Beauty Pageant on Jan. 12.
Elissa cCracken performs a piece on the piano titled “Cumana,” a mambo written by Barclay Allen in 1947 and made popular by Liberace, during the 2013 Miss America Beauty Pageant on Jan. 12.
elissa mccracken
Elissa McCracken could hardly have had a more exciting start to the New Year.
On Dec. 29, she and her father, Jeff, and mother, Helen, flew to Las Vegas, where she competed against 52 other young women in the 2013 Miss America Beauty Pageant.
With five days to prepare for the start of the exhausting competition, she spent her time doing pageant-related things like going to a spa, getting a massage, having her nails done and just plain relaxing.
Things started getting hectic the evening of Jan. 2, when she experienced her first competition event – an interview with the press. The very next afternoon, all the contestants participated in an arrival ceremony, followed by rehearsal of the choreography for the opening dance number in a ballroom at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino, where the pageant was held.
“We actually rehearsed every day and spent all our time together, staying on the same floor of the hotel, eating together and even managing to catch the Terry Fator Show together at the Mirage Hotel,” she said.
While preparing for the competition, she got to meet and even sometimes befriend many of her fellow candidates for the Miss America crown, including Mallory Hagen, Miss New York, who took home the title and who McCracken describes as “a very nice person.”
On Jan. 9, she and all the other candidates underwent an individual, 10-minute interview in front of a panel of seen judges, who asked her questions about her platform (cyber bullying in schools), her education, experience and her opinion on issues such as abortion.
The talent portion of the pageant followed on January 10, when all the candidates danced, sang, played a musical instrument or otherwise displayed their talent to the panel of judges. To demonstrate her own skills and abilities, McCracken performed a piece on the piano titled “Cumana,” a mambo written by Barclay Allen in 1947 and made popular by Liberace
The big night on Jan. 12 came with a live televised broadcast in which the pageant achieved the highest ratings in nine years, despite playing opposite the NFL’s divisional playoff game between the Green Bay Packers and the San Francisco 49ers. Dressed first in a teal bathing suit, then in a red evening gown, McCracken entered the final stage of the competition and was on stage with all 53 contestants when the 16 finalists were selected.
“I was a bit disappointed that I wasn’t among the finalists, but we all seemed to have the feeling that the Pageant experience is a win-win situation, no matter who wins,” she said. “I must say that I was happy for the girls who did make the cut.”
When Miss America was crowned that evening and things came to a close, McCracken said she visited with family and friends who came to the competition, then, exhausted by the string of events, spent the night sleeping soundly in her hotel. After spending the next few days sleeping a lot, dining out and hanging out in town, she flew back to Pennsylvania on January 15 and stayed a week in her hometown of Waynesburg, where she relaxed and tried to refocus.
“The Miss America Beauty Pageant exceeded my expectations,” she said. “They treated us very well and took care of us in Las Vegas, and I had a lot of fun and made a lot of new friends. Because I’d competed before, the Pageant wasn’t as stressful as I thought it might be.”
On Jan. 22, McCracken returned by car to her home-away-from-home in Columbus, where she’ll resume her duties as Miss Ohio, which begin again on Jan. 25 with a speaking engagement at a nearby school.
As to her future, she said she plans to reenter Ohio Northern University in Ada this fall where she’s pursuing a degree in pharmacy.
“Beyond that, I’m still trying to figure out where to go from there,” she said.